Sunday, November 28, 2010

Chestnut Chocolate Cake

Today is my dad's birthday! Ever since I started baking, he's been asking for a chestnut and chocolate cake. He's an excellent, excellent chef and really knows his flavors. This year, I knew that a simple chocolate or vanilla layer cake would definitely not be enough; I wanted something interesting, multi-dimensional, and delicious. My mind turned back to that chestnut and chocolate cake he's been craving, and I decided to surprise him with it.

My whole family loves chestnuts. We usually just roast them and eat them hot, but this year my mom and I made sure to buy pounds and pounds of them, so we could use them on Thanksgiving, roast a few after dinner on weeknights, and still have enough for the cake. We actually ended up hiding a pound in the basement so that my dad wouldn't get to them before I could use them in the cake!

This cake has quite a few things going in its favor: all the different, complimentary flavors (chocolate, chestnuts, and brandy), its big showy look, and the fact that it is so much fun to make. There's a lot of different components to it - the chestnut cake base, the brandy syrup, the chestnut pastry cream, the ganache, and the chocolate-brandy glaze - but I think that makes it a real work of art.

P, from last week's post, came over to help me roast the chestnuts for the puree. It's simply chestnuts boiled in milk until soft, passed through a sieve, and ground into a fine paste. The cooking liquid, plus some extra milk, is added back in to lighten the puree. It's used in the cake itself and in the chestnut pastry cream.

This cake is a big one. It's lightened with beaten egg whites, so it's not too dense, but it still has a lovely, rich crumb. It's split into three layers which are sandwiched together with the pastry cream.

The pastry cream smells amazing. It's got the rich, warm scent of chestnuts, which always makes me think of the holidays. But it's sweetened and made more delicate by the addition of egg yolks, sugar, and milk. It's also a very thick pastry cream, so it really is perfect for spreading between the layers of the cake - no oozing, no mess, just lovely, neat cake layers.

Then there's two types of ganache on top of the cake. The first is a beaten one, so it's fluffy and spread on like frosting. I almost stopped after this one, because the cake already looked so decadent and beautiful. But always the intrepid explorer, I decided, heck, a little more chocolate can't hurt.

The second ganache is a chocolate glaze. It's incredibly smooth and glossy, and it's poured onto the cake while still warm. I actually had trouble getting a good image of the finished cake because the glaze reflected so much light that my camera couldn't process it! But all that shine makes the cake look magnificent, and so tempting. I can't wait for tonight when we tear it apart!

¡Felicidades, Papá! ¡Te quiero mucho mucho mucho mucho!

Your Baking Soundtrack for Chestnut Chocolate Cake:

The Lady Killer, Cee Lo Green.

Seriously, I can't get enough of this album. It's so catchy and bouncy and kind of hilarious that you won't even think about Gnarls Barkley while dancing around to it.